A Gaza city hospital filled with wounded and other Palestinians there for safety was blown up Tuesday, taking hundreds of lives, the Hamas-run Health Ministry has said. Hamas says it was an Israeli airstrike, while the Israeli military says they have confirmed that the blast was as a result of a rocket that misfired from Gaza.
Hamas said in a statement that at least 500 people were killed.
The awful incident has caused protests in Beirut, Iraq and Amman, where the protesters collected outside the Israeli Embassy.
How it started
On a quite Saturday morning, Oct 7, Hamas militants fired thousands of rockets from Gaza towards Israeli towns, and before the nation was aware were deep in Israel’s territory. Once in, their gunmen killed in cold blood more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians; including women, children and the elderly took 199 hostages, according to Israeli authorities.
The scale of the attack was unparallel for Israel as a battle has not been brought into its territory since the 1948 Arab-Israeli war; especially one with so many civilians lives lost.
The operation tagged “Al-Aqsa Storm” by Hamas is said to be in retaliation to “Israeli attacks on women, the desecration of the al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem and the ongoing siege of Gaza”.
Following the attack Israel was swift with its response, the nation declared war and launched “Operation Swords of Iron”, its intention being to crush “Hamas and Islamic Jihad targets” in Gaza.
It ordered a complete siege” on Gaza until the hostages are returned and between October 7 and 12, The number of bombs that Israel dropped since then – 6,000 is said to be equal to the total number of airstrikes on Gaza during the entire 2014 Gaza-Israel conflict, which lasted 50 days.
Concerning the IDF announcements for civilians in Gaza to evacuate immediately for their safety as a ground invasion was in the works but most Palestinians say there is nowhere to go as Rafah Crossing has not been opened into Egypt.
In regards to the hostages being held by Hamas, the militant body has stated that some of the hostages have been killed during the bombings.
With Israel barring entry of most water, fuel and food into Gaza since Hamas’ brutal attack,
There has been talk of the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken getting an agreement with Israeli Prime Minister, Netanyahu to discuss a way to deliver aid to Gaza’s 2.3 million people, no deal in place as at Tuesday evening.
The number of Palestinians who have fled are estimated to be more than 1 million — roughly half of Gaza’s population
At the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s barricaded opening into Egypt, the truckloads of aid as at this report have not been allowed entry for more than a day. The World Food Program said it had more than 300 tons of food ready to cross into Gaza.
